Really nice day at the gym. Not busy at all. Seems like people are either giving up because its cold outside, or moving to a different gym. Either are fine by me, provided that the gym remains open indefinitely, as I just purchased another round of 32 training sessions. Glad I got a good pump in today too, since we are going for vegan pizza and beers later tonight. Fuckin stoked to hear some metal, and have some pizza/beer. Fuck yes!

Had a Monday off with the wife, so need to keep the journal short today. Glad I got this in as I definitely overate this weekend. We found this totally awesome all vegan Korean place here in town, and pretty much ate everything under the roof. Best maki of all time - and I hate seaweed wrappers. Knew I ate too much, so I had to burn some extra calories this morning; hence all of the jumprope and other HIIT stuff. Post-workout was an apple, purely to cease catabolism.

Felt pretty tired and awful at the end of tonight's training. Went in a little mentally shaken after looking at my student loan bill. Overall I've been pretty depressed lately re: career, life opportunities, etc. Seems like I (we) will never have the opportunity to buy a house, have a baby, or make and solid progress toward saving for the future. Anyhow, I don't want to bring the forum down with personal shit. Still having shoulder pain, which is annoying as all hell. Maybe I need a rest week? Anyone take these? I've read about doin full-on rest weeks (i.e. no training), and then active rest weeks (training, but at about 50%). Anyone have any advice regarding this?

Here's what I had for dinner - another salad. I think it's time to buy some bigger bowls...

Day of rest - and much needed. Felt good to come home from work and not have to worry about going back out in the cold to train. Mark my words, if I ever get the chance to own a house, it will have a legit gym inside. Anyhow, had some soup for dinner. Weight is dropping nicely this week. Usually by Wednesday I am down to 163 (from typical 165/6 after previous weekend's binge), but today I weighed in at 160. What would be awesome is if I can get down to 158 by the weekend, which would mean an overall loss of 90lbs over the last two years. Wish me luck!

Also, not drinking this weekend at all. Probably not doing much of a cheat meal either - but we shall see - best laid plans, right?

Felt pretty good about today's training. Favorite part about this week? I've finally breached the threshold of 160lbs in weight. In fact, as of tomorrow's weigh in, I will have lost a total of 90lbs! Not really sure what I will do to celebrate, as both eating whatever I want, and/or training more seem a bit inappropriate. Maybe some new training shoes? Suggestions?

Really wanted to abstain from drinking this weekend, but I can't stop thinking about the Revolution Brewery taproom, which is down the street from us. Also, there is this totally awesome tacqueria on the next block that happens to have seitan on the menu... I can hear a spicy burrito, chips and salsa, and guacamole calling my name.

Felt pretty good today, may have rushed a little bit. Wanted to maximize my time at home this afternoon relaxing. Came home and ate a handful of cranberries raw, which were so tasty! Trying really hard not to think about drinking beers tonight, but maybe I'll have a couple. Trying harder not to think about dessert, or fries, or chips, or burritos full of delicious seitan, or any of the shit that I want but continuously work off every week. It's not easy, but I'm sure you already knew this. Really wish I had my own gym at home where I could do the workout above. Getting sick of the ridiculous attitude I see at my gym. It has what I suspect to be a "prison yard" feel to it; mainly because most of the dudes there look like they've served some time. Had a good ending to the work week, which was very welcome. Thinking about applying to this job, but not really sure I am ready to leave my current position. Oh well, better get out and enjoy what is left of our fall weather; snow predicted for Monday...

Final thought.... Why is it, do you suspect, that I am capable of doing decline bench at the same weight as a regular (flat) bench press, with greater ease than the latter? Stronger upper pecs? Seems like my flat bench weight takes forever to increase in load. Frustrating.

Ugh, honestly, felt like I was going to puke after this one. Took a long while to cool down, even including standing in front of an open door, shirtless (it's about 50*F outside). Overate like crazy yesterday - got my hands on some dairy free chocolate chips, and almonds. Best. Ever. Still, nothing worse than nausea post-workout. Can't even really focus to type this out, so I'm gonna go. Have a good day everyone.

Great workout tonight, and really pumped about my pullups. When I did the wide-grip set I was clanking the weights against the rack, so I might have been able to go with less resistance. Really been working on pullups lately, so that was sweet. Also felt good to get a good sweat/pump in since I ate my face off yesterday - my wife made vegan donuts out of the Betty Goes Vegan cookbook. Donuts are my weakness... Well, anything baked, really. Anyhow, glad to be back after a day... wait, I trained yesterday. Oh well, onward and upward.

Worked with trainer today. Felt good to get some lower body stuff in, and some exercises I haven't done before. The dreya roll is pretty sick for a core/lower body power exercise. First experience with jerk/clean/press too. Felt nice. Have a lot on the mind lately as my wife and I are considering buying our first house. I'm quickly finding why it is called one of the most stressful situations in life. Sour beer fest tomorrow!

Dreya Rolls are something, apparently, that come from P90X, and are named after the girl who "invented" the move. Here's a video of a guy doing them, and is one of the better examples I could find on YouTube: .

My trainer told me about these, but only after I showed him this video, which is something I want to work toward. How sick are these moves?!?!? My trainer noticed the modification on the Dreya Roll in this vid, specifically at minute 8:12. This guy is a beast!

The sour beer fest will be awesome, as it is an event hosted by New Belgium Brewing Co. Apparently they will give lessons on brewing in the style, and then provide unblended samples for the participants to make their own blends. It's going to be awesome!! I'll post some pictures.

Jumped on here for a minute just to post the meal I made before going to the sour beer fest. I've read that it is best to eat something solidly nutritious before indulging in beer/booze, as you tend to loosen up and eat whatever garbage is put in front of you otherwise. So, with that in mind, I whipped up a nice curry, with garbanzos, zucchini, carrots, and this polenta we had in the cupboard. I placed it on a bed of bulgur, dusted it with smoked paprika, and added a little bit of sriracha for some heat. What do you think? Not surprising, it was pretty damn spicy, which I hope didn't destroy my palate before tasting all of these awesome sour beers (but probably did, dammit!). I just can't help myself around the sriracha!